1HK HIIX KASAI.A.- 351 



we were bargaining. But he took us safely down to 

 Ambaca, and I was glad to see, on my return to Cassange, 

 that he was promoted to be sergeant-major of a company 

 of militia. 



Having left Cassange on the 21st, we passed across the 

 remaining portion of this excessively fertile valley to 

 the foot of Tala Mungongo. We crossed a fine little stream 

 called the Lui on the 22nd, and another named the Luare 

 on the 24th, then slept at the bottom of the height, which 

 is from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet. The clouds 

 came floating along the valley, and broke against the sides 

 of the ascent, and the dripping rain on the tall grass made 

 the slaps in the face it gave, when the hand or a stick 

 was not held up before it, anything but agreeable. This 

 edge of the valley is exactly like the other ; jutting spurs 

 and denies give the red ascent the same serrated appear- 

 ance as that which we descended from the highlands of 

 Londa. The whole of this vast valley has been removed 

 by denudation, for pieces of the plateau which once 

 filled the now vacant space stand in it, and present the 

 same structure of red horizontal strata of equal altitudes 

 with those of the acclivity which we are now about to 

 ascend. One of these insulated masses, named Kasala, 

 bore B.S.K. from the place where we made our exit from 

 the valley, and about ten miles W.S.W. from the village 

 of Cassange. It is remarkable for its perpendicular sides ; 

 even the natives find it extremely difficult, almost impos- 

 sible, to reach its summit, though there is the temptation 

 of marabou-nests and feathers, which are highly prized. 

 There is a small lake reported to exist on its southern end,, 

 and, during the rainy season, a sort of natural moat is formed 

 around the bottom. What an acquisition this would have 

 been in feudal times in England ! There is land sufficient 

 for considerable cultivation on the too, with almost 

 perpendicular sides more than a thousand feet in height. 



We had not yet got a clear idea of the nature of Tala 

 Mungongo. A gentleman at Cassange described it as a 

 range of very high mountains, which it would take four 

 hours to climb ; so, though the rain and grass had wetted 

 us miserably, and I was suffering from an attack of fever 

 got while observing by night for the position of Cassange, 

 I eagerly commenced the ascent. The path was steep 

 and slippery ; deep gorges appear on each side of it, 

 leaving but a narrow path along certain spurs of the sierra 



